Brief Outline of Topics Covered in Lecture 15:
Marshall (ch. 10) pgs. 272-302
Video:
Lecture 15 [Google Video] - Fall 2007
Lecture 15 [Media Player] - Fall 2007
| Economics 493 Lecture 15 |
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Alfred Marshall
In 1906 Alfred Marshall wrote about his skepticism regarding the use of mathematics in economics:
[I had] a growing feeling in the later years of my work at the subject that a good mathematical theorem dealing with economic hypotheses was very unlikely to be good economics: and I went more and more on the rules - (1) Use mathematics as a shorthand language, rather than an engine of inquiry. (2) Keep to them till you have done. (3) Translate into English. (4) Then illustrate by examples that are important in real life. (5) Burn the mathematics. (6) If you can't succeed in (4), burn (3). This last I did often.
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